Joint covering strips



P 3, 1968 c. G. TUDOR-POLE 3,378,973

JOINT COVERING STRIPS Filed Nov. 1, 1965 Inventor C. G. TbooR- Pouz By I g Attorney United States Patent 505,829 Claims priority,

application Great Britain, Nov. 24, 1964,

47,772/ 64 3 Claims. (Cl. 52-466) This invention relates to cover strips which are used for example for the closure of joints between adjacent panel-s forming a wall or partition in a building or between two components in a temporary structure such as an exhibition stand.

According to this invention, such a strip has side edges which are inturned to form a channel section and is arranged to be held in position over a joint by resilient fixing clips each of which is U-shaped with the ends of its arms bent outwards to engage in the sides of the channelsh'aped strip and each arm having an outwardly projecting tongue punched out of it, the tongues being arranged to engage the edges of the panels or other members between which the joint is formed to hold the clips frictionally in position.

Preferably the section of the cover strip is outwardly bowed and the inturned edges follow this bowed section so that they lie at an oblique angle to each other and, when the strip is placed against a flat surface, each inturned edge thus lies at an acute angle to this surface.

We have found rather surprisingly that this bowing assists in excluding wind-blown rain swept along the out side face of a building from penetrating under the cover strip and into the joint. The strip is therefore particularly valuable for use in closing joints between panels forming the cladding of a building.

The optimum angle which the face of the strip makes with the flat face of the panel against which it is held will depend upon the nature of the surface of both the strip and of the panel, but generally speaking it lies between 15 and 45 and may be about 30.

of the inturned edge We have found further that if water is blown with such I a force that it flows into the space between the strip and the panels, this water has a strong tendency to flow along the face of the strip and not along the face of the panel. This happens where the strip is made of metal and the panel is of concrete or stone which is considerably rougher than the strip. We have found that this tendency persists even when the strip is made of, or covered with, a hydrophobic substance such as plastics material.

The tongues projecting outwards from the arms of the clips are preferably punched from the arms in such a way that they remain attached near the bottom of the U, that is at the inner end of the clip, and are inclined outwards towards the tips of the arms of the U. In this way the tongues are squeezed together as the U-shaped clips are pushed into the joint and this makes insertion easier.

Two examples of combinations of coverstrips and fixing clips in accordance with the invention are illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of the combination for closing lying in the same flat plane;

FIGURE 2 is a perspective clips shown in FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 3 is a cross section through the combination shown in FIGURE 1 in position between two panels; and

of part of one example joints between two panels view of one of the fixing 3,378,973 Patented Apr. 23, 1968 FIGURE 4 is a cross-section through a second example which is adapted to fit in a joint between two panels at right angles to each other.

A coverstrip 1 has its side edges 2 inturned to form a channel section 3. The coverstrip 1 is outwardly bowed and the inturned edges 2 follow this bowed shape so that when the coverstrip 1 is in contact with two panels 4 which together form a joint 5 the contact is along the lines 6 in FIGURE 1, and is shown as point contact 7 in FIG- URES 3 and 4. The angles 8 which are formed between the faces 9 of the inturned edges 2 and the flat surfaces 10 are about 30.

Fixing clips 11 each comprise a U-shaped body 12 with its ends 13 outwardly bent to such an angle as to be able to fit within the channel section 3 of the coverstrip 1, and a tongue 14 punched out of each of the arms 15. The tongues 14 remain attached to the body 12 at the base 16 of the arms 15 of the U-shaped body 12. In use the clips 11 are fitted int-o the coverstrip 1 and are then all inserted together in the joint 5 until the coverstrip -1 makes firm contact with the surfaces 10 of the panels 4 forming the joint 5. During insertion, the tongues 14 are squeezed toward-s the arms 15 of the clips 11 by the sides 17 of the panels 4. Thus the tongues 14 engage the side walls 17 of the panels 4 frictionally and make it very ditii-cult for the combination of the clips 11 and the coverstrip 1 to be removed, especially so if the tips of the tongues 14 are sharp enough to dig into the walls 17. Any attempt at removal of the combination merely causes the tips of the tongues 14 to dig further into the walls 17.

I claim:

1. In combination an elongated coverstrip for closing a joint between two adjacent panels and at least one spring clip for holding said coverstrip in position over said joint, said coverstrip comprising a central portion positioned between two flanges which are inturned to define opposed channels, and each of said clips comprising a U-shaped spring member having two arms, each arm having a free end formed at an end of said spring member, each of said free ends being bent and biased away from the other to fit into one of said opposed channels, and an outwardly projecting tongue punched out of each of said arms at a point spaced from said ends, said tongues being positioned to engage the side walls of said panels to friction'ally retain said clip in position in said joint and said cover strip in position over said joint.

2. The combination as claimed in claim 1, wherein the section of said coverstrip is outwardly bowed, and said inturned flanges follow said bowed section so that they lie at an oblique angle to each other and, when said strip is placed against a flat surface, the face of each of said inturned flanges lies at an acute angle to said fiat surface.

3. The combination as claimed in claim 2, wherein said acute angle lies between about 15 and about 45.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,312,056 8/1919 Shaw 52-468 2,584,813 2/1952 Pon'pitch 52718 2,634,467 4/ 1953 Astrella 52716 2,822,898 2/ 1958 Richards 52468 2,961,723 11/1960 'Hamman 52718 3,212,224- 10/1965 Spangengerg 52127 5 HENRY C. SUTHER-LAND, Primary Examiner.

ROBERT A. STENZEL, Assistant Examiner. 

1. IN COMBINATION AN ELONGATED COVERSTRIP FOR CLOSING A JOINT BETWEEN TWO ADJACENT PANELS AND AT LEAST ONE SPRING CLIP FOR HOLDING SAID COVERSTRIP IN POSITION OVER SAID JOINT, SAID COVERSTRIP COMPRISING A CENTRAL PORTION POSITIONED BETWEEN TWO FLANGES WHICH ARE INTURNED TO DEFINE OPPOSED CHANNELS, AND EACH OF SAID CLIPS COMPRISING A U-SHAPED SPRING MEMBER HAVING TWO ARMS, EACH ARM HAVING A FREE END FORMED AT AN END OF SAID SPRING MEMBER, EACH OF SAID FREE ENDS BEING BENT AND BIASED AWAY FROM THE OTHER TO FIT 